1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inkjet recording apparatus that is applied to, for example, a printer and a facsimile to discharge ink from a plurality of nozzles.
2. Related Background Art
Conventionally known is an inkjet recording apparatus for recording a character or an image on a recording medium, using an inkjet head for discharging ink from a plurality of nozzles. In such inkjet recording apparatus, when an ink droplet or dust adheres to the periphery of a nozzle, the flying direction of ink discharged from the nozzles is curved or the like and degrades printing quality. Further, air is mixed in the nozzles to cause a discharge defect, e.g., to make it impossible to discharge ink. Therefore, a cleaning operation is performed for the purpose of removing the air in the nozzles, and the ink droplet or dust at the periphery of the nozzles.
As one cleaning operation, a method of sucking ink from the nozzles using a cap is known. JP 03-61593 B proposes, as a method for this operation, a step of bringing a cap into close contact with a nozzle surface, sucking ink from nozzles by setting an inside of the cap at a negative pressure, subsequently opening the inside of the cap to an atmosphere, discharging ink in the cap, and finally separating the cap from the nozzle surface.
Further, in the above-mentioned cleaning operation of performing suction using a cap, ink pool remains on the nozzle surface when the cap is opened, so that a wiping operation of wiping remaining ink with an elastic material is performed for the purpose of removing the remaining ink. However, the wiping operation is not desirable because the wiping operation is a factor for damaging the nozzle surface, and may be a factor for allowing air or dust to be mixed in the nozzles again.
Further, JP 03-43066 B proposes, as another method of removing remaining ink on a nozzle surface, a method of absorbing remaining ink by capillarity by placing a porous sheet in a cap and bringing the porous sheet close to the nozzle surface.
However, only by the above-mentioned method of bringing a porous sheet close to a nozzle surface, it is difficult to remove remaining ink on the nozzle surface completely, so that the removal ratio of remaining ink is enhanced by performing composite processing of performing a discharge operation of ink in a cap for a long period of time while using the porous sheet, and furthermore, performing a wiping operation and the like. Therefore, there is a demand for simplifying a series of cleaning operations and shortening a time required for processing.